


Phoenix Feather

by Snowden



Category: Fairy Tail
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-02 23:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21169634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowden/pseuds/Snowden
Summary: Natsu is dead but that's okay! Makarov has a plan. As Fairy Tail gears up for its ultimate quest, its newest members are sent on a little quest of their own. Arleos and Mio are given a mission to seek help for Natsu's situation from the mysterious guild Phoenix Feather.





	1. A Death in the Guild

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking a little break from my main work Olivine Romance. I wanted to try my hand at something lighthearted and easy to write, and settled on one of my guilty pleasure fandoms, Fairy Tail. I'm planning for a novella-length story with short, frequent updates. This takes place post-"100 Year Quest", though as that is ongoing I can't vouch that my work won't break canon at some point. So, here's Phoenix Feather, I hope you all enjoy.

“Natsu is dead.”

So said Happy, teary-eyed, as he stood over the corpse of his longtime companion.

Gray leaned over his sometime friend, sometime rival, and checked his neck for a pulse. Never mind the gaping, blackened hole where Natsu’s heart used to be.

“Ah. Dead,” said Gray, nodding.

“Dead as a dragon,” Gildarts added with a shrug.

“Hoy hoy hoy! Don’t disrespect the dead like that!” Laxus snapped.

The great oaken doors of the Sacred Hall wrenched open. A booming voice reached out into the chamber.

“That’s an old, old saying Laxus. Gildarts knows what he’s talking about. Gather round, my children.” Makorov entered the hall, bound to his wheelchair and helped along by Mest.

The senior mages of Fairy Tail flocked to their master like sheep to a shepherd. Grief, anger, shock, despair, all the usual sentiments of loss hung over them. But most of all, confusion. When the summons went out and the news spread, it came with odd caveats. Something was not right, beyond the obvious loss of their dear comrade.

Makarov crawled atop the table and examined Natsu’s body. He put a finger to the man’s wound, withdrew, sniffed the remnants, and frowned.

“Hmph! Nothing.”

His hand slid down and reached under Natsu’s vest, pulling out a book.

“Lucy’s novel,” Erza noted. “He actually read it.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This was Natsu we’re talking about,” Mirajane countered.

“How are we going to tell her?” Erza wondered. The guild had waited so long for this couple, and then to have it stripped away so soon after... it was too cruel.

Makarov opened the novel to the final page, affirmed the message written there, and laid it out for all to read.

“His final words. This is what I summoned all of you here to see,” Makarov announced.

Upon the page, beneath the novel’s final lines and scrawled in what could only be Natsu’s atrocious handwriting, was written:

‘_Great story Lucy. Loved it. Love you. Tell Yoko love her too. Gotta die for a little bit now, see you again soon._’

In the space of a sentence faces went from teary sentimentality to utter shock and outrage.

“The hell did he mean by that?!”

“Natsu, you son of a...!”

“Oh Lucy is gonna kill you... again!”

“Hahahaha!”

At least Gildarts found it funny.

Makarov silenced them with a raised hand.

“Laxus, Gildarts, the original saying goes like this: ‘If you think you’ve killed a dragon, you had better stab it again, because death is merely a temporary inconvenience to them.’ Natsu may lie here hole in his chest, but I have no reason to believe he is lost to us. And I don’t mean metaphorically.”

“Master. What happened? What’s going on?” multiple guild members asked.

Makarov shook his head.

“I can’t say for sure. But I will tell you this. Natsu took up a quest that I had forbidden. He went alone, and ended up like this. Let that be a warning to the rest of you.”

“But we’re talking about Natsu here. What kind of quest could do... _this_?” Wendy asked.

They were all thinking the same thing. This was the man who stopped Zeref, who felled Acnologia, who sealed the Five Great Calamity Dragons. He had an argument for being the most powerful mage on the planet. Just what the hell could’ve killed him?!

“The Thousand Year Quest. The original quest our guild was founded to achieve,” Makarov answered.

“Eh? Wah?! _Thousand_ Year Quest?!?!” Eyes popped. Jaws fell open.

“Do fairies have tails? An unanswered riddle, an eternal adventure! Does that not ring a bell?” Makarov asked aloud.

“The guild motto?”

“It’s not a motto! It’s a quest, taken up by our first guild master!”

Makarov crossed his arms.

“It’s about time we worked on this quest in earnest. Our client has been waiting patiently for a very long time. And I think we now have a man in place to do the dirty work.”

“A man in place...” All eyes drifted to the corpse of the dragon slayer. Whispers under breath came pouring forth, excitement and apprehension began bubbling just under the surface. Eyes widened, raised, stared at one another. Grief dissipated. Smiles broke out. This was it!

“Ahaha. But first, we’ve got to get everything ready. First thing’s first. Demolish the guild hall. Bury it. We’ve got to bury all memory of this guild, like it never existed. Oh, and Erza, please fetch Arleos and Mio. I’ve got a special assignment for them.”

Deep beneath the guild hall, the rumblings of a new adventure began stirring. Fairy Tail was on the move!

But this isn’t a story about Fairy Tail and their grand quest. It’s a lesser story, a side-story, one that follows less important people on a less important quest. A side-quest, so to speak. It began shortly after this prologue, in Makarov’s office while the rest of the guild was cheerily tearing the building apart.

“Sir?”

Fairy Tail’s two youngest, newest members blinked in unison shock.

“Natsu is dead, and that’s convenient to us right now,” Makarov stated plainly. He pushed a scroll towards the pair of pupils. “But after this is over, we’ll need to do something about his “death”. You’re to take this scroll and find a small guild in the northeast mountains of Fiore. Ask them for help.”

Arleos and Mio gazed at the guild master, then at one another, and gulped.

“They are called Phoenix Feather.”


	2. Passing Through the Woods

“You must be hot,” Arleos remarked.

“Oh no!” Mio instantly picked up on the twofold joke.

For one, it was quite a bit below freezing. Mt. Hakobe did not care that the rest of Fiore was steeped in late spring weather, here it was still in the depths of winter.

For two, “Mio is hot” was just playful code for her idiosyncrasy of forgetting to wear shoes. Then factor the freezing winter temperatures and the ice underfoot, and you can see the absurdity and humor in the situation.

“How can you walk like that? Did your shoes fall off again?”

“Don’t worry. It only hurts a lot. I can bear it.”

“You’re much too honest. Come on, let me carry you to the next town.”

Mio objected.

“I’m not heavy at all, it would be too much of a burden!”

Arleos ignored her protests and easily swung her onto his back. She was as light as a pillow and posed no problem to the young man’s back. Her pack, however, weighed some five-hundred pounds. Arleos was flattened.

“Mio.”

“Hmm?”

“Your weight-feathering magic. Please refresh it on your pack.”

“I’m so sorry I can!” Mio picked herself and the enchanted bottomless backpack up. Arleos tried to shoulder the pack first this time, and was promptly flattened.

“I’m so sorry! I know what’s wrong!” Mio covered her mouth in embarrassment and guilt.

“What’s wrong is that your magic doesn’t work unless you’re the one touching the ground,” Arleos explained with a grunt. “Also, you’re a packrat.” He dusted himself off and grabbed Mio’s backpack by the strap.

“Alis viventem!” Arleos’ spell enmeshed and imbued the pack with magic. A pair of feathery wings sprouted from its sides. A dainty takeoff followed, and soon it was floating in the air. “Follow,” Arleos ordered. The pack, as if sentient, nodded and began flapping after him. The young man hefted Mio onto his back, and they were finally on their way again.

“Thank you so much! You’re such a skilled mage, and so kind and useful. I’m glad I got to go on this quest with you, you make everything easy!”

“You’re teasing me, aren’t you?” Arleos said.

“I am!” Mio acknowledged, and hugged him all the tighter.

They trudged up the snowy mountain paths one step at a time. Airy, enchanted trails of snowflakes weaved through the pine trees, whispering their songs to the passersby. The moon was still bright and inviting even in the face of the morning sun. The scent of maple and evergreen filled their nostrils.

Mio buried her nose in Arleos’ hair.

“It feels so nice,” she said.

“It does,” he acknowledged.

“I hope everyone is okay. I hope Natsu gets better.”

“Are you worried?”

“No.”

“Neither am I.”

“Master would be crying if there was nothing we could do. I know we’ll see Natsu again.”

“I look forward to it.”

The world seemed so perfect in that moment, their spirits full of a lullaby called Hope and Content.

As if the universe itself blessed their peace, the lull lasted all the way to their destination, with nary a hint of imposition upon it.

The path arced upwards to a saddle in the ridgeline. Nestled right in the pit of it was a homely little tavern, with smoke puffing out of its chimney at regular intervals. Arleos, with Mio mounted and the flying backpack in tow, leisurely made towards it.

“Haha! You’re Fairy Tail, aren’t ya?! Gotta be bad if they sent you out here!”

They sat around the table, the youngsters hunched over hot meals, the older man laid back with boots on the table. He cocked an eye at them from beneath messy bangs.

“Am I right? I am, aren’t I?”

“Well, we are Fairy Tail mages.”

“Course you are! So what manner of calamity is threatening the kingdom this time? Dragons? Lich? Hell fiends? Zombies? Evil clones?” He suddenly leaned in close. “Giant time-eating space fleas from nowhere?”

“None of the above,” Arleos said, raising a fork in defense. “And just because we’re Fairy Tail doesn’t mean we’re harbingers of doom. Not _all_ of us are walking disaster zones.”

“That’s disappointing. So what’re you after, way up here in the middle of the mosies?”

“We’re looking for a guild. The locals said you might point us in the right direction,” Arleos said.

“It’s called Phoenix Feather. Would you know anything about it?” Mio followed.

“Phoenix Feather... really?” The man leaned back once more.

He gave off the aura of a strong, free-roaming mage. Like Gildarts, really, but with the spiked white mane of a wolverine and the deep blue eyes of an ice wraith. His dress was appropriate for the climate, overstuffed fur-lined leathers. A silver chain slithered down his chest and disappeared into a pocket. Beneath all the layers a massive, muscled body lay at ease. Truly, an absolute unit of a man.

“Yeah, I know a guild named Phoenix Feather. Don’t know what you could want from them. They mostly keep to themselves. Very small, not very strong, nothing really special about them. Get by doing local chores for the valley, enchanting logging axes and such. You’re probably wasting your time.”

“Master Makarov insisted. We have to meet them. Maybe there’s some secret to this that we’ll find out when we get there. Please,” Mio implored their informant.

“Well,” the elder man rubbed his stubbled chin. “There is a rumor going around about them. They have _one_ neat magic trick, if it’s not all made-up mumble jumble.”

“That is?” Mio and Arleos perked up in their seats, to the very tip of their butts.

Mister Stranger smirked, leaned close, and whispered.

“They say Phoenix Feather can bring the dead back to life. Shh!” He put a finger to his lips, imploring secrecy.

Mio grabbed Alreos by the arm in excitement. Arleos stood stiff and wide-eyed.

“Arleos!”

“I know.”

“This is what Master intended! We can bring Natsu back to life!”

“But...”

Arleos rose, planting his hands firm on the table.

“There’s no way it’s that simple. Every resurrection magic comes with a cost. Awful, terrible costs.”

“Nope,” the mister shook his head. “That’s what’s so special about Phoenix Feather. No cost, no downside. No blood sacrifice, no life-limit transfer, no undead shenanigans. It’s just clean, drawback-free return-to-life magic.”

“It can’t be. If something like that existed, all the deaths in history could be undone. Everyone on the planet would be after Phoenix Feather’s secret.”

The mister shrugged and raised his hands.

“It’s just a rumor. Never been verified. You’ll just have to go meet them and ask yourself.”

“Where can we find them?” Mio asked.

“Well that’s privileged information! I’ll part with it for... oh, a double-pint of beer.”

Arleos was about to check his pocket, when the door of the tavern blew open. And by that I mean it exploded off its hinges and smashed against the far wall, stunning the total population of the establishment.

“Moses Zeowulf! Surrender or die!”

The mister scurried to a stand.

“That’s my cue, kids, thanks for the chat.” He grabbed Arleos’ unfinished stew and bolted it down in an instant, then disappeared in a puff of fur.

“What the?!”

Arleos and Mio gawked in stunned silence.

A second puff of fur blew up in their face.

“Mmm. So good, take that to go.” The Mister reappeared, grabbed Mio’s dish, and slapped a scrap of paper on the table. The next moment he was gone for good.

“He’s getting away!”

“Where’d he go?”

“Those brats over there! They’re hiding him!”

“Don’t be deceived! He has beast transformation magic! Search for small animals! Kill them all. Make sure nothing leaves this building alive!”

An abominable blizzard poured in through the open door. The room temperature dropped to a deathly chill and the hearth fires extinguished. Soldiers in frosty cobalt armor bullied their way inside, quickly suppressing the tavern patrons. Halberds leveled upon Arleos and Mio, who threw their hands up in surrender.

Something akin to a man entered the tavern. His flesh was that of a human, anyways. His magic aura was more alike the season of Winter itself, plutonian, omnipresent, and oppressive. His cold, predatory gaze swept the abode, searching for its prey.

“In the name of the Alvarez Empire, I, Invel Yura, declare all of you accomplices in the harboring of the fugitive Moses Zeowulf. Cooperate or die.”


	3. The Winter General

Mio tugged on Arleos’ sleeve. He gripped her hand, and found it to be trembling. The reason was plain to him. Mio could sense the magic power of others. This was no ordinary foe, nor one he should even think of challenging. The soldiers lowered their halberds and commenced ransacking the tavern. Their leader swept the tavern occupants with his dissecting gaze, before settling on Arleos and Mio.

“You two. You reek of that scoundrel. Who are you? What is your relationship with that man?” He began a slow, menacing march on the pair.

“Please! We just met him, we were asking him directions!” Mio spoke up.

“He was a perfect stranger to us, we didn’t even learn his name. Who is he to you? What crime is he accused of?” Arleos asked (and being rather bold in doing so).

Invel Yura came to an imperious stand before them. His form and garb had not changed much from the days of the war. Pale blue hair hung over his right shoulder, collected by a band. Piercing sapphire eyes snapped from one object of focus to the next. He donned a winter-hued dress suit, tie, and trench coat. There were changes, noticeable to those who knew him from before (Arleos and Mio did not, of course). On his breast he wore a gold lapel depicting lightning shaped into an interwoven spiral. The pattern of dark markings on his coat were different, now depicting densely layered, intricate celestial objects. He wore no glasses.

“Answer my questions _in order_. Your names, now!”

Arleos and Mio fell silent. They were skilled mages, but young, and had never been in a fight with another human, let alone a mage of this caliber. Their minds were at a loss on how to answer, not knowing which reply might save or doom them.

Invel gritted his teeth at this show of timidity.

“I am a patient man, and would love to indulge your speechlessness, but I do not have the time for pleasantries. Speak!”

Still, silence. Still, reticence.

Invel swept his arm around, drawing out a blade of crystal from the air itself.

“What should I do with gawking brats? Dethroat you? Would answers come easier from your neck than your lips?” Invel raised the blade to Arleos throat. “Or perhaps I will rob you of your free will and draw the answers directly from...” Invel paused mid-sentence. “Why do you seem so familiar? Glasses!”

Invel reached into his coat pocket, paused, and jerked. His imperious façade slowly, achingly melted away. The face that had once held nothing but stern contempt twisted into ghastly fear.

“Where are my glasses. Where are they?” He began frantically patting through his coat, then his suit, then twisting all around, searching for the supposed accessory and finding nothing.

Arleos clung tightly to Mio’s hand.

“No! Soldiers, don’t let them escape. I must find my glasses.”

The soldiers ceased their looting to come to their general’s aid. Weapons lowered upon them.

_Crap. There goes my escape plan_, thought Arleos.

Mio bit her lip. She saw plainly what was wrong, and made the choice to resolve it, for better or worse.

“They’re right here.” She reached up to Invel’s head and plucked the glasses from out of his voluminous hair. She then handed them back to their bewildered owner.

“Insolent! Who do you take me for, you... YOUR MAJESTY!”

The moment the lenses corrected his vision, Invel froze in shock. The lapse of nature lasted but a moment, but the wholesale attitude change incurred was permanent.

“All you men, kneel! Kneel before your emperor!”

Invel went down to the floor on one knee, head bowed, and fist planted over his heart. All the soldiers followed suit.

“All hail Emperor Spriggan! All hail his highness!”

“Hail!”

“Hail!”

“Hail!”

Invel dared a glance towards his sovereign. His senses were not mistaken, even if his head told him it was impossible. This was the face of the man he pledged eternal loyalty to all those years ago. Younger than he remembered, but that didn’t matter. The finite details were correct. A doppelganger was out of the question. Spriggan, rightful ruler of the Alvarez Empire, stood before him.

Yet Spriggan- Zeref- was dead.

“Zeref, my lord... How is this possible?” Invel uttered.

Arleos let off a smirk.

“There are an infinite number of magics in this world, Invel. Why should this surprise you? I’ve returned. Now, would you please take your men and leave us be? I do not want to attract attention at the moment.”

“But sir...” It was now Invel’s turn to be at a loss for words and reduced to mental paralysis.

“But Arleos!” Mio protested.

“Not now, Mavis,” Arleos told the girl.

“But you’re not Zeref! And I’m not Mavis! I don’t understand, you always hate when people make that mistake, even if you do look identical!”

“What is she talking about?” Invel asked, head raised and confusion growing.

“Nothing! She is tired and faint from the journey. Do what I say, or do you dare defy your emperor?” Arleos put on his most austere and brazen posture.

“But he’s bluffing!” Mio said aloud, then covered her mouth.

“Bluffing?” Invel rose to his feet and stared down upon the youth.

“Stop! I will not tolerate treason!” Arleos shouted.

“Bluffing?! Well let’s see.” Invel raised his hand and released a blast of freezing air. The gale bowled Arleos and Mio onto their backs and set their bodies shivering. “Weak! I believe her. You’re not the Emperor. You’re much too weak, his highness would never disgrace himself before such a pithy attack.”

Arleos grit his teeth in frustration. “Mio, I know you can’t tell a lie, but sometimes it’s enough to just keep your mouth shut. Is that so hard?”

Invel recomposed himself, as did the soldiers, and the halberds leveled upon them once more.

“This is too uncanny. You are not my master, that’s impossible, even if the resemblance is perfect. I’ll be taking you into custody and getting to the bottom of this matter. Perhaps you’re a trap, laid by Zeowulf. In that case, Ice Lock!”

Mio gripped her neck. She could feel the slither of magic crawling across her skin, tightening. It was quickly coalescing into something heavier, like a slave’s collar made of cold steel. Her mind starting feeling numb and blank.

“Where’s the bastard?! I know he’s here! Awa! That’s not him!”

The icy magic dissipated. Mio and Arleos bowed over, panting hard.

Invel and gang turned their attention to the entrance. Several bodies were fighting to get inside, even as their leader was trying to back peddle.

“Shoot shoot, back up! There’s Alvarez knights in here! Come on stop pushing!”

“And who are you?” Invel began marching on the intruders, casually throwing a wave of magic behind him as he did so. The spell encased Arleos and Mio up to the shoulders in a block of ice, completely restraining them.

“I don’t like the looks of that one.”

“Yer stepping on my toes!”

“Whatever.”

“Definitely bad guys. Better run!”

“Let me at ‘im! I’ll punch him straight to heck!”

“Get off me fatty!”

Invel raised his hands, forming magical seals in the air.

“I’ve had enough. Zeowulf, the doppelgangers, and now this rabble? No one will escape here. Eye of the Storm, Winter’s Rage!”

The full might of the Winter General was put on display. The tavern walls were shattered and ripped apart. Roaring winds carried the remnants of the building high into the air. The huddled occupants were exposed to the open sky, and beheld there an awesome sight. A wall of ice, hail, and flurry encircled them, reaching to the heavens and swirling with hurricane force. Trees caught in the storm wall were shredded bare and frozen, leaving little more than icicle skeletons behind. There was no escape in any direction. They were trapped and they were doomed.

Arleos found himself on the side of the mountain, still encased neck-down in the ice block, and with his face unhelpfully buried in the snow. A helpful hand overturned the block and cracked it open.

“Ohoho! Look here, a fine young lad!” Arleos found himself face to face with a squat old man whose most prominent feature was an enormous bulb of a nose. He held a pickaxe in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other.

“Who are you?” Arleos asked.

“Never mind that, we’ve got us a problem! That’s a pretty powerful mage with a wee bit of a temper.” The old man took a gander at Invel. The ice mage was attempting to freeze a fifty-foot ethereal fire dragon. The dragon was continually frozen solid, but somehow slithered away each time, leaving behind dragon-shaped ice sculptures in its wake.

“He’s going to figure out that’s an illusion real soon.”

“Can you help us? Can you beat him?” Arleos asked the old man.

“Us, beat him? Us, beat anyone? Ohohoho! What a funny joke you’ve made there lad! No, no, we’re running away.”

“Bah!” Invel hurled an icicle lance straight through the dragon’s throat. It did nothing, phasing through the illusionary beast. This was Invel’s final clue on its true nature. “Who’s the caster? Who is messing with me?”

It was difficult to tell. The tavern patrons were scattered about and tucked into frightened little balls. Alvarez soldiers were running every which way in a panic. Mio was climbing the chimney, the sole part of the tavern that hadn’t been blown away. Four mages were scrambling around in various states of confusion, and one stood defiantly before the Winter General.

“I have no choice. I’ll simply freeze everything. Plutonian Meteor, descend!”

The sky opened. The air went still. The light of the sun dimmed.

“A cold so absolute it will freeze light, life, magic, and even time! Come down! Cease all existence in this abode!” Invel raised his arms to the heavens, and the heavens, it seemed, came falling down to greet him.

“Wooh! The miss better do something quick. Ah, there she is!”

There was a flash before the two men, and a sound like the shattering of glass softly rang out. A young woman appeared out of thin air.

“Mac, we’re going.”

“Wait!” Arleos cried.

The woman turned an irritated face on him.

“Take me with you!”

“Eh? Why should I?”

Arleos was taken aback. In this dire situation, who could possibly be so stingy? He wracked his mind, and out popped the simplest answer it could find.

“I’ll pay you!”

“100,000 jewels.”

“And my companion too!”

“200,000.”

“Done!”

“Where are they?”

“The inn- there!” Arleos pointed to Mio climbing the chimney.

“Grab my hand.”

Arleos reached out, and a gloved hand took his. There was another flash. Their surroundings had changed in an instant. He swooned, unable to get his footing at first.

“Hey, you! Germ! What’re you doing up there?! Get down here!”

Mio was at the peak of the chimney, reaching out into the air with one desperate hand. They could now see she was trying to grab her floating backpack.

“Come on, leave it, we’ve got to go now!” the lady shouted.

“Just a little bit more! I can’t reach but I have to!” Mio cried.

“Mio, it’s not important! Oh gods!” Arleos held his head and looked up. A mountain of crystal had blotted out the sky. It was falling fast and growing darker, as if sucking in the light of the atmosphere as it descended.

“Mio!”

“I can’t leave without my pack!”

“Why?! Grr! Fine, Avis Mortis!” Arleos dispelled his enchantment; the feathery wings wilted and died. The pack dropped like a sack of bricks and hit the grass with a heavy _thump_. Mio came tumbling down after it.

“All aboard?”

“Yes!”

Arleos and Mio joined hands. Six more unfamiliar people appeared all around them and locked hands with them. The group formed a closed circle.

“There you are.”

The chimney froze to its core and then blew away in a puff of powder. A shadowy figure appeared in the mist, coalescing into the figure of Invel.

“You were in league after all. No matter. I’ll capture you all right here and now. Once Plutonian Meteor strikes, time itself will freeze and none of your tricks will work. Prepare to cease existing.”

The impact was imminent. The meteor had reached the tips of the mountain peaks.

“Ether Gate, activate!” the young woman shouted.

Mio blinked.

Arleos put a hand on her back, steadying her. The pair looked on with breathless shock. Far away and below them, a castle-sized meteorite of magical ice crashed into the mountain saddle. There was a massive explosion, but it stopped mid-expansion. No sound of fury reached their ears. The debris ball hung in the air, completely unmoving, encasing the pass and the adjoining peaks in its stillness. It was, in Arleos’ opinion, utterly surreal and unbelievable.

Mio managed to pry her eyes from the frozen explosion and look around. Judging by the fact that there were mountain peaks everywhere but none higher than the one they stood on, they must be on top of Mt Hakobe itself. How they had gotten there in an instant confounded her.

“Teleportation magic? But I don’t sense it. What’s going on here? Who are you?”

“Nice view, huh? Got enough? Okay, hold hands, jump number two.”

The odd flash of light and crackle of breaking glass rang out, and their surroundings flipped once more. They were now in the woods, surrounded on all sides by boughs of gold, ruby, and bronze. The air was ever-so-slightly warmer. A gentle breeze wafted fallen leaves into their faces.

“It’s autumn!” Mio said aloud and wide-eyed.

“Ugh. Where are we?” Arleos clutched his head.

“Payment. Due now. Hup hup, germ!”

Arleos pulled himself together, then pulled a bulging coin purse from his pocket. He was about to hand it over, but then hesitated.

“Wait. This was supposed to be payment for our mission.”

The young woman put her hands on her hips, annoyed. Arleos got a proper look at her, and her companions, for the first time. She was a brunet, jaw-length hair, black eyes, smug-faced and strangely condescending (given her diminutive stature). She wore a white bodysuit that covered her neck-to-toe, with blue bands circling the thigh and upper arm. The material seemed strange, nothing Arleos had ever seen before- shiny and slick. She held out an insistent hand.

“One second. 200,000 jewels is way too much, you used the situation to extort me.”

“So what?” the woman said. “We made a deal. I’ll send you right back to Mister Blizzard if you don’t pay up.”

Arleos became keenly aware of the five other mages circling them:

The squat old man with the giant nose, now wearing Mio’s backpack (and having no trouble with it).

An incredibly tubby young man with a brimming baby face.

A dark-skinned lady with a stony face and wearing a lab coat.

A dour-looking man in a kimono and scratching his back with a katana.

A cheery raven girl in formal dress and clutching a book in her arms.

They didn’t look like the most threatening lot, but with mages, you could never tell. Besides, the leader’s teleportation magic was real enough.

“Alright, alright, I’ll pay up. Just, I’d like to know who I’m indebted to for our rescue first.”

“Oho, nice to see you come round.” The young woman in bodysuit raised her hand. “We’re Phoenix Feather, a mage guild! My name’s Zera, I’m the acting guild master.”


	4. Payment in Kind

“You changed!” Mio exclaimed.

The young lady called Zera flipped her hair. Rings of energy crawled across her limbs, torso, and head, removing the strange bodysuit and leaving a new outfit behind. She now adorned a backless dress, multicolored with the same hues as the autumn foliage- viridian, vermillion, and saffron. Matching detached sleeves, black tights, and brown boots covered the rest. Even her hairstyle had changed, growing longer and clumping into twin tails tied with red bows.

“Of course, no sense staying in that skimpy ethersuit longer than necessary. Mac, how’s the reading?”

The old man lowered his magnifying glass.

“No good, he got away.”

“Damn it!” Zera stomped the ground. “Why the hell did he even show up, if he’s not coming back home? Not even a “hello”! Fine, we’re going home!”

“Wait!”

Arleos held up a hand.

“You said you’re Phoenix Feather?”

Zera turned back.

“Yeah, what of it?”

“You’re just the people we’re looking for.” Arleos fumbled around until he found Master Makarov’s scroll. He handed it over to the nonplussed lady. She eyed its contents once, then tossed it back at Arleos. The man juggled and dropped it.

“Figures. Come on. Mac, show them the way. The rest of you, go home.”

“Ma’m!”

“Pfft.”

“Hmm.”

Arleos felt the pressure of being scrutinized. For some reason, the other mages wouldn’t stop staring at him- except the old man, who was tripping over himself to fetch Mio’s attention. The would-be samurai turned up his nose and walked away first. Tubby boy seemed curious, but quickly followed the katana-wielder. The lab coat lady had the coldest, harshest death glare of them all in her eyes. Arleos felt outright hostility from her. Yet it was the innocent, fawning gaze of the book girl whose stare lingered the longest.

“Hurry up!” Zera shooed her subordinates down the road. “I want to get this over with, and we can’t talk out here. Let’s go!”

The lady led four of the mages away. The fifth, the old man, stayed behind to escort the Fairies.

“She’s quite bossy!” Mio observed. Then her bright eyes softened. “And she seems familiar... Don’t you think so?”

“It’s possible we’ve met her before. At the Grand Magic Games, maybe?” Arleos posited.

“Ho ho, good guess, but if that’s so, you have very sharp eyes!” the old man said, butting in. “We aren’t the kind of guild to get very far into the games. Our best place was third to last!”

The Fairy Tail pair exchanged looks.

“You say that like you’re proud of it. You didn’t even try to fight that Alvarez general. Are you really that weak?”

“Hmm?” The old man smiled through his snow white beard. “Well, yes we are. To be honest, we were no match for the rank and file soldiers, let alone the great Invel Yura! But why should that bother you? You’re a lad of Fairy Tail, strongest guild in Fiore!”

Mio held Arleos’ hand. “I know what you’re thinking, but remember what we’re here for, okay?” Her touch relaxed Arleos. She turned to the old man. “My name is Mio, this is my companion Arleos. We are indeed mages of Fairy Tail. How could you tell?”

The old man tapped his head.

“Eidetic memory. I recognized your faces from the Magic Games entry cards.”

Mio covered her mouth in amazement.

“That’s incredible! We were only registered for a preliminary event! There must be thousands of entrants!”

The old man smiled, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Yours stood out. Ah, oh, I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself, even though I know your names. How rude.” He took off Mio’s pack, laid it aside, and made a deep, low bow (which, due his squat stature, was very low indeed). “Scotler MacAdoo, Chief of Exploration, Phoenix Feather, at your service. You may call me Scot, or as the young miss prefers, Mac.”

“What would you prefer to be called?” Arleos asked.

“I like Doc,” he said with a grin. “But I haven’t been called that in decades. Retired from university a long time ago, you see. But it’s so kind of you to ask.”

“I see. Thank you for having us Doc!”

“Good to meet you.”

The Fairies bowed in unison.

“Ah, what a cute young couple.”

At that, Arleos blushed- and Mio flung herself onto his arm.

“We are!”

“Still...”

Arleos got over his embarrassment quickly (it would be false modesty to feel ashamed of a partner like Mio) and quickly returned to his fretting, worried state. MacAdoo sensed it and guessed its cause.

“Something must have happened to your guild.”

Arleos nodded. Even chipper Mio downcast her eyes.

“You were expecting something a little more, hmm, “potent” out of Phoenix Feather, weren’t you?”

Arleos nodded again and spoke up.

“Master Makarov spoke of you like some kind of myth. I was under the impression- no forgive me. I made assumptions.”

“Well, it can’t be helped.” MacAdoo clapped his hands. “We’re very close knit and peculiar, but nothing special. If you spend any amount of time with us, you’ll find us to be quite unremarkable, by your guild’s standards. My deepest apologies.” MacAdoo added an apologetic bow for emphasis.

“I don’t think that’s bad at all!” Mio said. “There’s nothing wrong with a peaceful, ordinary guild. There should be a place like that, for the people who want it.”

“Woah ohoho! Now to call us “peaceful”, that’s going a bit too far! We have our share of troubles too!” He threw up his hands in protest.

Mio continued.

“But besides all of that, we did hear you have a very special spell in your repertoire, which is why we’re here.”

MacAdoo suddenly jumped in close, covering Mio and Arleos’ mouths with surprisingly large, calloused hands. His voice came close to their ears, a raspy, whispered one of urgency.

“In that tavern, you spoke to a large man with hair like a grizzled wolverine, correct? Don’t speak, just blink twice.”

They blinked twice.

“That’s not a rumor that gets passed around randomly. You were told that on purpose. Speak no more! Save it for your meeting with Zera.”

MacAdoo released his hold on their jaws.

“And off we go! What a tragedy, you’re shivering! And miss, where are your shoes?!?! Oho noho, this won’t do. A warm bath, hot meals for the both of you, post-haste!”

They arrived at the village of Redwin, a plain little burg nestled in the forest. At its edge, tucked into the crook of a mountain, was Phoenix Feather’s guild hall.

“It’s quirky!” Mio said.

“Thank you!”

It was a tree house- or something like that. Arleos craned his neck upward, and found another comparison. It was a cuckoo-clock.

The hall was a cluster of cottage-like buildings, nested into the branches of several great redwood trees. The fronts were made up to look like grandfather clocks, with wrought iron hands and colorful numbered faces. Staircases hung from underneath akin to the pendulum and weights. The highest and largest of the buildings was crested by a great wooden bird statue. It was charming, but also a little worn. Leaves and sticks had amassed atop the roofs, looking like actual birds’ nests at points.

“Up ho!” MacAdoo pointed left, to a smaller annex. There he directed them to a cramped but functional kitchen, and cramped but reasonably clean bathroom.

“Take your time!” their steward said, then disappeared.

“Okay!”

Mio skittered towards the bath first. Arleos began closing the door after her. A hand popped out.

“Do you want to join me?” Mio said, face visible through the crack.

“But...” Arleos stuttered. “Are you naked in there?”

Mio glanced at herself.

“Yes! Is that a problem?”

Arleos flailed his arms.

“How is that NOT a problem?!”

“Oh?”

“Master would- no- even Natsu would burn me to a crisp if he found out.”

“But Natsu isn’t alive to stop us.”

Arleos froze up.

“Don’t joke about that.”

Mio smiled.

“I’m sorry. It seemed like one I could get away with, since I know we’ll see him again.”

“Geeze. Take your bath already! I’ll make lunch.”

MacAdoo led the way up. The stairwell never seemed to end, and was certainly taller than the physical space between its bottom and apparent top. They entered the main building through the floor and kept climbing, into a tower and then another tower. One room was loud with the chorus of dozens of grandfather clocks lining every wall. Another chamber was filled with windows looking out onto- the chamber itself?

“They’re not mirrors, I think,” Mio said, waving to one window and seeing her backside in its aperture.

A third tower was filled on every side with shelves and nooks, stuffed to the brim with locked chests, vials of liquids, scrolls, crates, and rubbish-looking knickknacks. It was a artifact hoarder’s paradise. Still they climbed.

“Eighty feet outside, two-hundred-and-ten-plus on the inside. Spatial magic?” Mio wondered. “Is it portals or spatial compression? Ah! It’s so mysterious!”

“Don’t get carried away, Mio,” Arleos said. Then- “Hey Doc, what’s with this? Are we really headed to a meeting?”

“The master’s office is up above,” MacAdoo answered.

“They must get a lot of exercise going up and down all these steps.”

The old man scratched his bearded chin.

“The master and the miss have their own ways of navigating the guild hall. If it’s difficult for others to reach the office, then that’s by design. They don’t like to be disturbed when they’re working.”

“Are we going to be disturbing her?”

MacAdoo nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. But that’s unavoidable, given your situation.”

They finally alighted into the master’s office. It was more library than workspace, however, with shelves of books reaching all the way up to the distant ceiling. A balcony looked out onto an open space, and the bookshelves descended downwards as well. Freestanding bookcases filled the chamber, and spread like a forest as far as the eye could see. Catwalks and ladders connected the shelves together, like the branches of said endless forest. The space was quite illogical, and couldn’t possibly fit inside the squat cabin seen from the exterior.

Off to one wall there happened to be a desk crammed full of papers and gadgets. Behind it, seated in a swivel chair with her boots on the desk, was the leader of Phoenix Feather.

“Master Zera, our guests. One Arleos and Mio, of Fairy Tail.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I don’t care about names. And stop calling me Master. I’m just in charge while he’s away!”

“My apologies.”

MacAdoo saluted and exited the room via the stairwell.

Arleos stood stiff, eyeing the woman before him.

She seemed haughty. Even sitting, it felt like she was looking down on them. There was no fondness in her frowning face, and barely any tolerance. He also noted her apparent age, close to Mio’s if he were to guess. She hadn’t washed since their last meeting on the road, and still wore the same outfit.

“So, what do you want?” she asked gruffly.

“You read the scroll. We’re here for that,” Arleos said, concealing the fact they themselves were not privy to Makarov’s request.

“Okay,” Zera closed her eyes and nodded knowingly. “Here’s the short answer. No. Here’s the long answer. NOOOOOOOOOOOO.”

Arleos bit his lip and tensed up.

“We know you have a resurrection spell. Natsu is our precious friend. He’s like an older brother to me. We want to bring him back, no matter what it takes.”

“Yeah, so? I don’t know him.” Zera shrugged her shoulders. “Lots of people die. Most don’t get to come back. That’s the natural order of things. Why should this Natsu be any different?” She crossed her arms.

“He deserves it. If not for Natsu, you would be obliterated. Your whole guild. All of Fiore. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard his name before.”

Zera waved her hand dismissively.

“Sure, sure, Natsu Dragneel, the great prankster of Fairy Tail, so-called “savior” of Fiore. Still, don’t care.” She turned her back on the pair.

“We’re willing to pay you.”

“You can’t afford it.”

Arleos sneered, ripped out a coin purse, and slammed it down on the desk.

“Try me!” he yelled, uncharacteristically.

“That tiny bag?” Zera turned her nose up at the small pouch.

“It’s a bottomless bag.” Arleos gripped the bag and flipped it over. Coins poured out- and continued pouring- and did not cease. The stream of specie did not end when the contents of a normal purse would have emptied, then five purses, then a hundred. Mio could only gawk as the pile of coins overflowed the desk and began spilling onto the floor.

“One hundred million jewels,” Arleos said, dead serious. “Our entire guild’s fortune.”

Zera tilted her head, considered, then emphatically shoved the entire pile off the desk with her shoe.

“Too poor.”

Arleos pounded the desk with both fists.

“You b-!” Mio’s hand interceded his lips in the nick of time.

“Don’t curse, it’s not like you.” She turned to Zera. “He is very kind and gentle, but nothing makes him angrier than unquenchable greed. If this sum can’t satisfy you, I feel terribly sorry for your soul.”

Zera wasn’t about to back down. She popped out of her seat, pounded the desk, and leaned right into Arleos’ infuriated face.

“Eh?! Ah! You’re calling _me_ greedy? You’re the ones who want to _raise the dead_. Do you have any friggin idea how _selfish_ that is? How _wrong_ that is? How _hard_ that is? Boy, do you have any idea what happened to the world because someone wanted their dead little brother brought back to life?” Zera poked Arleos in the chest. “I hope you do! You look just like the bastard who tried it! It’s not something you can you just pay for, like a cheap doctor visit!”

Arleos stiffened.

“I am NOT Zeref,” he hotly declared.

Zera crossed her arms.

“Duh. Zeref is dead. Thank the gods. Can you imagine if HE was brought back to life? Topsy turvy. Nothing would stick- not executions, not farewells, not sacrifices or anything. If we rezzed everyone, the world would run out of room real quick, and the new generations would get buried under. There’s a reason the gods like to punish people who fiddle with life and death.”

Mio held onto Arleos’ arm to calm him down and hold him back. She spoke to Zera. “But even so. You have a resurrection spell. One he said was free of all those drawbacks, that required no sacrifice. What’s the use of such a spell, if you never use it?”

“Damn it, that bastard, that loafy cocky bastard!” Zera muttered this more to herself than her guests. She turned back to them. “The only reason I’m even talking to you is because you got word of something you shouldn’t have. Sure, we have kind of, sort of, a spell that brings the dead back. But you act like it’s something cheap and easy. It’s not. Fifty billion.”

Arleos sputtered. Mio threw up her arms.

“FIFTY BILLION?!?!”

Zera cocked an eye.

“Yep. Fifty billion jewels. That’s how much we charge for Phoenix Down.”

Arleos’ hands shook. He grasped himself to still his shocked nerves.

That sum... this was no longer even greed. All the jewels in Fiore might not equal that number. It was an impossible price, literally impossible.

“Ha. Haha. Hahahaha!” He couldn’t help himself. He began laughing. “It’s a joke. It has to be. Fifty billion. That’s a kingdom’s economy. No one has ever had it in one lump sum. Not even a government.”

Mio recovered, and slowly rounded the desk. She took Zera’s hand. It was hard to tell with her bowed head, but it seemed her eyes were tearing up.

“Please. You don’t know how much Natsu means to us. We’ll find you fifty billion jewels, even if it takes the rest of our lives.”

“As if.” Zera patted the girl on the back. “You think we drop a big number just to get a reaction? I’m dead serious. You want to pay for Phoenix Down, it’s fifty billion jewels. No discounts.”

Arleos also rounded the desk, not to confront Zera, but take a seat in her chair.

“Why even offer a service like that? Maybe the Alvarez Empire could afford it, if they scrapped together every piece of wealth on the continent- but there’s no way they’d do that. Us? No way.”

“That’s the value of someone’s life. Don’t be cheeky and think you can put a gold cost on it.”

Mio wavered and fell into Zera’s arms, who barely caught her.

“Woah! Hey!”

Mio peered up to Zera with heavy, weepy eyes.

“Of course you can’t put a price on someone’s life. But please... could you make an exception? Natsu didn’t die normally. Something strange happened to him. He was on an important quest, one that forced him into the afterlife. I know he did it for us, like he always does. I’m sure he’d do the same for you. Could you lower your price to something we could realistically pay?”

“Hmph!”

“Is there no other way? Something besides money?” Mio asked.

Zera suddenly smiled and swung Mio around, flinging her into Arleos’ lap.

“You’re mages, aren’t you?” They nodded, blank-faced. “What can you do?”

Arleos was struck by the sudden shift in conversation.

“Ah. Um. A little bit of everything? Script magic, ward magic, three elemental make magics, divination, oculation. I’m sort of a jack of all trades.”

Mio rubbed her eyes dry. “Enchanting and illusion magic for me.”

Zera nodded to herself. “Good, good! Guess what, I like you two. I’ll give you a special discount.”

“Really?!”

Mio was excited. Arleos braced himself. There must be a catch- or perhaps this was her goal all along. Had she strung them along with that absurd sum, just to wring an even more ridiculous demand out of them?

“Sure! One million jewels. That should cover all the expenses, and a little profit.”

“One million? That’s a lot less!” Mio exclaimed.

“And...?” Arleos asked, wracked with suspicion.

Zera’s face twisted into a devious, joyful grin.

“And you two have to join Phoenix Feather!”


End file.
